Parallel Centres
by IceGirl2772
Summary: Sequel to Strange Beginnings. After 14 years apart, Talida is finally reunited with her family. However, she loses her father after he made a sacrifice to save Earth. Will she be able to get him back from the Decepticons? Or will she die trying? Optimus/Arcee Ratchet/OC T for violence R&R PEOPLE!
1. Hope and Worry

**Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to ****_Parallel Centres_****!**

**Here are the review replies for the final chapter of ****_Strange Beginnings_****!**

**haloangel21: Knew you would. And seriously. Take your time with your chapter for ****_A Different Beginning_****. Seriously. There's no rush.**

**Neon: (1)How many fanfictions are you following? **

**(2) ****_Fading Suns_**** isn't the sequel to ****_Strange Beginnings_****. ****_Fading Suns_**** is ****_Talida Prime: Fading Suns_****. It's part of the original series. It's the sequel to ****_Talida Prime: Rising Storms_****. **

**Awesomo3000: Yeah. Sure. You guys are 'patient' unless I take more than a month to update. **

**storygirl99210: (1) Who doesn't? Fortunately, Bumblebee took care of that for us. …oh wait. The movie. **

**(2) Who doesn't?**

**(3) You won't have to wait long, my friend. Don't worry.**

**PrincessofDreams123: Did you just do ****_The Three Muskateers_****? …or ****_Star Wars_****?**

**Creepy-Pasta: I said I would, didn't I?**

**MonkeyGirl13: It may not be Megatron should I decide to follow my plan…**

**Everon Prime:Ratchet does need some loving. **

**Luno Uchiha666: Please do.**

**_Transformers: Prime_**** rightfully belongs to Hasbro and The Hub.**

**© Talida and other OCs rightfully belong to me unless I say otherwise.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

After spending the day at the dance competition, everyone returned to the base. Talida wore a series of gold medals around her neck. She won best solo and best duo with Josh and the dance team came first overall, advancing to the next stage of the competition series. But the smile she wore on the podium was fake. And the Autobots saw through her façade.

After all, they knew the reason of her sadness.

"I'm taking you on a ride around the Grand Canyon in the helicopter to celebrate how well you did," Fowler proclaimed.

"Won't you get in trouble?" Talida asked in confusion.

"What General Bryce doesn't know won't hurt him," Fowler smirked.

"Why not?" Talida shrugged.

Fowler had never been so thankful that Talida accepted his sneaky little offer. The government agent couldn't help but have respect for the young teenager. The Decepticons kidnapped both of them at different stages of their lives. And even though Talida had it worse than him, she came out the strongest. And he admired that about her.

He also wanted to get her mind off of the events that occurred the day before. Losing one's father was tough. But losing your father after just finding him again? That was harder. And it was clear that Talida was taking the loss extremely hard. Sure. She had a close bond with Arcee. Everybody was able to witness that bond. However, even when she was in the womb, everybody knew from the very beginning…

She was a daddy's girl.

"Hold that thought," Fowler told her as his phone began to ring loudly, "Fowler. …yes, General Bryce. They're all here. I just arrived at the base. …yes, sir. Yes. I'll have a report for you by my next check-in."

"What did he want?" Arcee wanted to know.

"What happened concerning Optimus," Fowler clarified, "I gave a brief report last night. But they want to hear your perspective."

"I'll do the talking," Ratchet sighed before beginning the paragraph,

"In hind sight, we accomplished what was required. With Unicron's awakening, extreme measures needed to be taken. Enemies became allies. Allies became confidants. And with the Matrix of Leadership, Planet Earth was saved… Though at a measurable personal cost. When Optimus surrendered the Matrix, he lost more than the collective wisdom of the Primes. He lost himself."

Since it was the first time everybody was truly talking about what had happened in Unicron's lair the previous day, everybody had a lot of questions that needed answers.

"That doesn't follow," Arcee objected, "Optimus knew Megatron."

"They were like BFFs," Bulkhead couldn't help but pipe in.

"If Optimus did not know his own name, perhaps it may be because the title of Prime hasn't yet been granted to him," Ratchet mused.

"Huh?" Fowler demanded.

"What?" Jack gasped.

"Say again," Miko requested.

"With the power of the Matrix no longer within him, it would stand to reason that Optimus has reverted to his pre-Prime state; the historical archivist Orion Pax," Ratchet decreed.

"You mean in his mind," June surmised.

Fowler had managed to keep it together when he found out what had happened. However, having officially heard from Ratchet that Optimus wasn't Optimus Prime anymore, needless to say, he lost it.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME PRIME THINKS HE'S SOME KIND OF LIBRARIAN AND A DECEPTICON?!" Fowler snapped.

"Being a Decepticon is a choice, Agent Fowler. One that I have a hard time believing Optimus would make at any point in his life," Ratchet immediately jumped to Optimus' defense, "Not when he has so much to live for."

At that sentence, everybody glanced at Arcee and Talida. The two girls who have become his everything.

"So if he's riding with the 'Cons," Bulkhead began.

"It's because Megatron's working some kind of voodoo," Arcee finished.

"Orion Pax may not currently be an Autobot up here," Ratchet began, gesturing to his mind, "But I must believe he will never stop being one in here," this time, he gestured to his chest plates where his spark rested.

"But we don't know that for certain. We've gotta find him first," Talida pointed out, speaking for the first time since the discussion began several minutes ago.

"Hold up! I have a chip lodged in my behind that lets Uncle Sam know when I stop for doughnuts! Are you telling me you can't just track Prime?!" Fowler asked in disbelief, creeping June out a little bit with the 'chip lodged in my behind' sentence.

"Optimus' signal has not reappeared since he embarked for Earth's core," Ratchet clarified, bringing up the Autobot's life signals, showing the red mark where Optimus' life signal once was to prove his point, "But we must get to work finding him if we are to have any hope of initiating his contingency plan."

"Contingency plan?" Arcee repeated in confusion.

"What contingency?" Bulkhead demanded.

"Is that even a word?" Miko asked in true Miko style.

"The keycard!" Jack gasped, pulling the key from his pocket, "So what's it do?"

"It grants entrance to Vector Sigma, the repository of the wisdom of the Primes," Ratchet answered.

"Is that some sort of supercomputer?" Raf immediately piped in.

"So we can download Dad's memories back into him?!" Talida said excitedly.

"Great! Which one's the Big V?" Jack immediately asked as he looked around, "Over here? Somewhere in back?"

"Vector Sigma is more than a supercomputer, Jack. It is a source of mystical power…on Cybertron," Ratchet corrected, surprising everyone.

That ignited June, who immediately tried to put her foot down on the quest before it could even start, "Jackson William Darby, you will _not_ be travelling to another planet!"

"I'm in!" Miko piped in, eager for another adventure.

"You're not going either, Miko! Not when one of you can!" June objected, glancing at Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee at the last statement.

"June's right. Why send the boy to do a bot's job?" Fowler wanted to know.

"Because only a Prime can access Vector Sigma…or one _chosen_ by a Prime. Optimus gave the keycard to Jack. It is now imprinted with his unique bio signature," Ratchet answered.

"So you mean Jack's some kind of honorary Prime?" Miko surmised.

"Let's just say Jack is the only one who can return Optimus to the Autobot he knew," Ratchet said mysteriously.

"But why would Optimus willfully endanger a human?! A child?!" June blew up.

"I'm not a child, mum!" Jack cried, clearly left feeling indignified by the label.

"Maybe Optimus believes there's more to Jack than meets the eye," Arcee shrugged.

"And, for your information, Jack is not the only one endangered by this quest," Ratchet said mysteriously, glancing at Talida.

"Whoa whoa whoa! No one said anything about involving my daughter!" Arcee immediately cut in.

"How am I involved? Dad gave the key to Jack. He's the only one who can restore him," Talida reminded Ratchet of some key points.

"That may be true. But Jack can't obtain the wisdom of the Primes because he doesn't know where Vector Sigma is. You do," Ratchet clarified.

"Dad never mentioned anything to me about Vector Sigma. How the heck am I supposed to lead Jack to Vector Sigma when even I don't know where it is?!" Talida demanded.

"Your foresight," Ratchet said, causing Talida to look at her boyfriend in confusion, "You cannot control what you see and when you see it. But one thing's for certain. When you are on Cybertron with the holder of the Key to Vector Sigma, your foresight will show you Vector Sigma's location and how to get there."

"Yippee. More headaches," Talida cheered sarcastically.

"However, all of this is moot. The keycard and Talida's foresight ability are useless to us without a means of reaching Cybertron. Which we, at present, do not possess," Ratchet proclaimed.

"Dude, what about that?" Miko suggested dryly, gesturing towards the GroundBridge.

"Miko, the GroundBridge barely got them to Earth's orbit. Remember?" Raf reminded her.

"Yeah. But Ratchet built it. Can't he just turbocharged the thing?" Miko asked loosely.

That struck an idea in Ratchet's mind. Perhaps he could turbocharge the GroundBridge. However, it would require a lot of time and testing. And he didn't want to get the other's hopes up in case it turned out to be for nothing.

"Well, I think I've heard enough," Fowler proclaimed before turning to Talida, "Come on. I'm still gonna give you that ride around the Grand Canyon."

"Be careful. The Decepticons will be more dangerous with Optimus in their grasp," Ratchet warned her.

"I'll be gone a few hours. Tops," Talida promised as she kissed Ratchet's cheek when he leant down.

"Watch your backs!" Arcee called to the retreating duo.

"Don't worry, Arcee. Tally's more capable of watching her back than Fowler," Miko tried to reassure the anxious mother.

"Tally's all I have left. If anything were to happen to her…," Arcee trailed off.

"Arcee, don't worry about that. We all have her backs," Jack promised.

"If the Decepticons wanted to touch Tally, they'd have to go through my wrecking ball before they could go within a foot of her," Bulkhead promised, unfolding his wrecking ball to prove his point.

Arcee still sighed. She knew that the Autobots would lay down their lives to protect her daughter. It comforted her to see that she wasn't the only one who cared about her.

However, she still couldn't shake off the gut feeling she had about something happening.

* * *

**Not bad for a prologue, eh? A bit longer than my usual one. But I had to include all those scenes. Because after next chapter, it's a time skip. …like, a two month time skip. **

**You guys should know what to do by now. Review. Fave. Alert. Whatever. Right now, I'm gonna jump across to ****_Fading Suns_****.**

**BYE!**


	2. Vows in the Air

**Mama's stirring the pot. Getting a lot of good ideas…**

**REVIEW REPLIES!**

**AlphaTrion3145: Trying to prolong it. Because I think I'm only covering the three Orion Pax episodes. Kind of like what I did in ****_Fading Light_****. **

**Kairi-PrimeProtector:Allow me to indulge your interest.**

**PrincessofDreams123: There are a lot of things you should do. Attempting to understand my mind is not recommended.**

**storygirl99210: I'm not revealing anything. With stories, I change my mind on plot points every ten seconds.**

**haloangel21: Thanks, Halo!******

**Neon: That's a lot of stories. **

**Awesomo3000: Thanks!**

**MonkeyGirl13: I take it you want me to update.**

**Greekmythologygirl2000: Thank you very much. Uh-huh-huh.**

**Megatronus117: BECAUSEITTAKESTHEMTWOMONTHSTOREALLYSETAPLANINMOTIO N! ITSWHENTHEYFINALLYFINDOUTABOUTTHEEXISTANCEOFTHEDEC EPTICONSPACEBRIDGE! **

**Timeskip's not happening till next chapter. This is just a filler chapter.**

**_Transformers: Prime_**** rightfully belongs to Hasbro and The Hub.**

**© Talida and other OCs rightfully belong to me unless I say otherwise.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

Talida spent the entire ride looking out the window towards the ground below. Fowler was happy to see her doing that as he flew slowly over the Grand Canyon. This was the main point of this. To distract her from events looming over them.

He had heard from June how she only slept at all last night because she cried herself to sleep. And when she did sleep, it was restless. She kept calling for him. Kept crying in her sleep. She was hysterical. Inconsolable even.

"I've always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I really can't believe you're doing this," Talida said to Fowler.

"Well, it's not everyday you've won all the categories you've competed in during a dance competition," Fowler shrugged, giving her a big goofy smile to try to make her laugh.

"Let's just hope General Bryce doesn't find out," Talida prayed.

"As I said, what he doesn't know won't hurt him," Fowler smirked.

Talida managed a small smile at the remark. From what she heard, General Bryce was an uncaring, unforgiving bastard. One that no one wanted to deal with. Fortunately for Talida, she will probably never have the opportunity to find out herself.

"Hey! There's the South Rim!" Talida gasped.

Fowler allowed himself to wear a full smile on his face for the first time since the trip started. He did what he aimed to do. He got her mind off of everything.

Or so he thought.

She began glancing up at the skies, searching for something specific. She wondered if the Nemesis was hiding behind each cloud she glanced at. It didn't take the government agent long to figure it out.

"We are going to get him back, Talida," Fowler reassured her.

"But how do we know he'll be the same?" Talida wanted to know, "Megatron's planning something and it involves dad. He's gonna be turned against us by him. If the others encounter him in battle, will they have to kill him or the other way around?"

"I may not know a lot of things about the current situation," Fowler chose his words carefully, "But I'm certain about one thing. He may not know who he is. He may not know about the family he has. But he's not the one to give up on family."

"How do you know that?" Talida demanded.

"A few months after I was assigned to the Autobots, when we gained mutual trust, Optimus told me about a child he and Arcee were force to leave on Earth. He knew that there was a chance that their child would want nothing to do with her real family and would want to stay out of the Autobot/Decepticon war. Regardless of what would've happened, he would never give up on his child," Fowler explained, surprising Talida, "That's the thing about fathers, Talida. Fathers never stop loving their children. They will never give up on them. Something you can do in return is never give up on him."

"Please tell me you haven't been spying on me since you were assigned to them," Talida pleaded.

"That's classified," was all Fowler said, "But do you understand my point?"

"I'm never going to give up on him. He'd do the same for me," Talida retorted, "I'm just afraid of what Megatron's going to do to him. And with Airachnid in his ranks and her hatred of mum, I'm almost afraid that she's gonna hurt him to hurt her."

"And normally, you're the fearless one," Fowler joked slightly, "You don't have to be afraid of the worse odds. You just don't have to put too much weight on them. Focus more on the positives. Forget about how challenging the task will be. Focus only on what you want to do. What do you want to do?"

"Find my father, restore his memories and bring him home," Talida answered without a beat.

"Right. So focus on that," Fowler told her.

Talida thought about it. Fowler was right. She was too busy focusing on the fears. She was focusing on the negatives so much, she was neglecting the slight hope. The very slight hope that they will find Optimus and bring him back home.

It was as she said. She will bring her father back.

Or die trying.

* * *

**Short. But the meds I've been on since my surgery don't exactly agree with me. So I haven't been able to write much because of how sick I've been. Normally, when I'm sick, it's writer heaven for me. However…it's a stomach illness and I'll leave it at that.**

**You guys should know what to do by now. Review. Fave. Alert. Whatever.**

**BYE!**


	3. Small Reliefs

**This is where everything begins…**

**REVIEW REPLIES! **

**AlphaTrion3145: Thanks, Amelia!**

**Neon: YOU SAID IT!**

**haloangel21: Not my favourite song. But knock yourself out. And it was my wisdom teeth. Three impacted wisdom teeth had to be removed. It wasn't really the actual surgery that caused complications. I just had trouble with the general anesthetic (I don't react to it that well, I become hysterical). Then once I got over that, I had to deal with pain meds that would knock me out every time I took them and an antibiotic that caused the stomach trouble I've been having. Basically, for the first week, all I've been doing is what babies do. And I'll leave it at that. **

**storygirl99210: Neither can I and I'm writing it!**

**Azul the blue: I hate reading them. But I love writing them. Why is that?**

**Kairi-PrimeProtector: So am I.**

**PrincessofDreams123: Optimus will NEVER give up on his family. Hear me? NEVER! And I'm fine.**

**Awesomo3000: Well, Fowler has hardly any time to bond with the humans. Thought I'd change that.**

**Time skip is affective this chapter.**

**Oh! Remember how in ****_Parallel Centres_****, I mentioned how the email thing wasn't working? Forget I said that. For some reason, it's going to my spam folder. Whoops. Maybe I should check my spam folder more. :/**

**_Transformers: Prime_**** rightfully belongs to Hasbro and The Hub.**

**© Talida and other OCs rightfully belong to me unless I say otherwise.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

The day Optimus unknowingly abandoned the Autobots was two months ago. Ever since that day, everyone threw themselves into trying to find their leader. However, everyone knew that tracking the Nemesis wasn't an easy task due to the heavy cloaking the Decepticons have employed to keep them hidden. Optimus was going to be on the Nemesis because Megatron couldn't risk him encountering the Autobots and realizing that he was a part of the wrong team.

Talida was sitting in one of the booths inside KO Burgers as Jack worked his shift. Her favourite cheeseburger and sprite combo was laid out on the clean table. However, just like any other day, she hasn't felt the urge to eat. Not even a nibble. It's been that way for the past two months since the events with the prophecy.

"Two Body Slam Burger Specials. Enjoy," Jack smiled to the customer as they made the exchange of food for money before the customer drove away.

To Jack's surprise, Sierra was standing on the grassy island across the driveway. This was strange because Sierra normally hardly acknowledged his existence. She only truly began acknowledging him when he first got a motorcycle.

"Hey, Jack," she greeted.

"Sierra," Jack responded, surprised.

Talida rolled her eyes. She loved Jack. But when it came to his crushes, he was blind. Sierra was the worse of them all. He can't see that she's using him.

"How come I never see you around?" Sierra asked.

"What are you talking about? We have chemistry together," Jack retorted, earning a strange look from Sierra that caused him to stammer like a fool, "Class. Chemistry class."

"I mean outside of school," Sierra clarified, "I never see you at any parties or the mall."

"Well, mostly I'm here wearing the hat. And you never can't study too hard for the old SATs, you know. Plus, Lida's been sick recently and there's a lot of other stuff," Jack explained before the drive-thru buzzer went off, "Don't go anywhere!"

Sierra smiled excitedly as he said that before going to the microphone.

"Welcome to K.O Drive-In. May I take your order?"

"_5pm, Jack. Your shift is over. Let's go._"

"Oh. That kind of stuff," Sierra deflated, going to walk away.

"Sierra, wait! She's Lida's biological mother!" Jack cried out in vein as Arcee rode up with her holoform activated.

"Her mother looks really good in leather on your bike," Sierra grumbled before walking away.

Arcee watched apologetically as Jack sighed in frustration at the lost chance.

"Didn't mean to decimate your social life," Arcee said as an offer of apology.

"Not the first time," Jack grumbled before asking the same question he asked everyday, "Any sign of Optimus?"

"Not today," Arcee answered sadly.

"Not yet," Jack corrected as always before going to pack his hat and apron, "Lida! You've better have eaten a good portion of that meal by the time I've come out!"

Talida didn't even try to cover it up as Jack sat next to her. She heard him sigh in disappointment at her untouched meal.

"Lida, you gotta eat. Optimus isn't gonna want you to waste away," Jack sighed.

"I don't feel hungry!" Talida cried out in defense.

"You haven't really eaten anything in over two months. You're wasting away!" Jack retorted, touching her side under her loose-fitting half-sleeved top to prove his point as he felt the outline of her ribs, "Please. Just eat something."

"Your brother's right, Tally. You gotta eat," Arcee said as she came in, sitting opposite them, "We're not gonna leave till you do."

"Might have to wait a while," Talida grumbled.

"Come on, Lida. Please," Jack pleaded as he held up a chip, "Please."

Talida looked fully into her brother's eyes. It was then she realized how much of a toll this was taking on him. The worry was clear in his eyes. So were the bags. Losing Optimus wasn't just affecting her.

So with a sigh, she accepted the chip from Jack and ate it, much to his relief. Arcee made no attempt to hide her relief as she watched her daughter grab the burger and take a bite out of it.

"At least she's getting better," Jack sighed in relief, rubbing her back as she drank some of her sprite.

* * *

Back at the base, Raf was doing his English homework when he heard beeping. Walking forward, she saw that Ratchet was attempting the suggestion Miko threw loosely at him two months ago. It surprised him. Miko was the person in the group that annoyed Ratchet the most. He was surprised that he was actually considering her advice.

"Ratchet," Raf began, distracting Ratchet from his work, "Are you turbocharging the GroundBridge?!"

"Tinkering," Ratchet was quick to correct him, "No need to get anyone's hopes up just yet. Especially Talida's."

"She seems to be on edge. Not sleeping. Not eating. She's taking this hard," Raf observed.

"She's improving with Jack's assistance, based on what Arcee just told me," Ratchet retorted after a minute of silence as he privately commed Arcee.

It was at that moment that Arcee returned to the base with Jack and Talida and Bulkhead returned with Miko after she finished yet another day in detention. Silently, everyone wondered if Miko actually had a long streak of _not_ getting detention.

"Detention again, Miko?" Talida sighed in frustration.

"Hey! Mr. Racon had it coming!" Miko cried in defence.

Talida couldn't help but silently agree with Miko and what she did to the teacher. Mr. Racon was the history teacher at Jasper High and no one liked him a lot. Mostly because the guy was a womanizing sleazebag who could be Vince's father. Oh wait. He was.

"He's related to Vince. Of course he had it coming," Jack retorted as he and Talida hopped off Arcee so she could transform.

"Did you eat today?" Miko asked worriedly.

"Managed a whole meal," Talida boasted.

"Nice!" Miko cheered as they hi-fived.

"Whoa, Ratch! I thought when you said you were going to turbocharge the bridge, you were kidding!" Talida cried.

"I'm not gonna stop looking for Optimus until all options have been exhausted," Ratchet retorted, stopping his work momentarily, "But there's a chance it won't work."

"A small chance is better than nothing," Talida retorted.

"_Ratchet! You awake?! This is an emergency!_"

The moment was killed when Fowler's voice rang through the video feed. The urgent tone was radiating from him even though they were a few miles away.

"Agent Fowler. Is it Optimus?!" was the first question that came out of Ratchet's mouth.

"_No. It's 'Cons! And they're busting into the same military lab they hit two months ago!_"

"**Looking for the power source again?**" Bumblebee buzzed.

"Another Space Bridge?" Bulkhead guessed, quickly catching on to Bumblebee's drift.

"For all we know, Optimus is riding with them," Arcee pointed out.

That earned Ratchet's interest.

"Roll out," Ratchet instructed.

* * *

**Thought I'd end it there. Because I'm evil…and tired.**

**BYE!**


	4. New Ideas

**DUN DUN DUN! HERE WE GO! **

**REVIEW REPLIES!**

**AlphaTrion3145: ****_Optimus will never give up on his family. Then why did… Never mind._**

**_RoseBlade Vortex: I sometimes wonder why there are no Jack/Sierra stories?_**

**Because no one likes the pairing. **

**haloangel21: ****_Yes, Ratchet, roll out! xD _**

**Let's go, Ratchet! :P**

**Neon: ****_I like how Ratchet the no-longer-hatchet-cuz-Talida-is-there has taken away Prime's 'roll out' line XD _**

**I always did like that. **

**Kairi-PrimeProtector: ****_Grrrrr Cliffhangers…it's a love hate relationship. Lol_**

**That's one way to put it.**

**Awesomo3000: ****_Poor Talida. :( Gaah, you evil! But you tired too, so it's fine. Update when you can!_**

**I'll keep updating till Tuesday. It's when I go back to school for the term.**

**MonkeyGirl13: ****_please update update update update update update please update update update update _**

**Take a chill pill.**

**storygirl99210: ****_AWESOME CHAPTER! At least Talida is doing okay. She can't give up hope and neither can anyone else!_**

**She'll give up when she's dead. **

**_Transformers: Prime_**** rightfully belongs to Hasbro and The Hub.**

**© Talida and other OCs rightfully belong to me unless I say otherwise. **

**ENJOY!**

* * *

Knock Out and Breakdown thought they'd have an easy break with the Decepticons' second attempt to steal the power source from the military base. Technically, they were successful the first time. Then Optimus broke into the ship and stole it from under their noses before going on a rampage for revenge.

They shouldn't have thought the second time would be as simple as the first. First, they did have Bumblebee walk in the battle with a barely alive Talida. Second, they currently had the American military and their tanks to contend with.

Then the Autobots had to show up.

"Drop the power source!" Bulkhead ordered as he, Arcee and Bumblebee jumped out of the GroundBridge and charged towards them.

"Aren't you missing someone?" Knock Out teased.

"Not funny, Knock Out!" Breakdown barked as Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee charged their blasters and aimed them at the two Decepticons, "That's Duckling's father!"

"You still care about her?" Arcee stammered in disbelief, "Your debts are paid off."

Knock Out and Breakdown didn't have time to answer Arcee's question. Originally, it was because reinforcements arrived to defend the two of them. However, after the Autobots defeated the three planes with ease, they realized that Megatron wasn't going to be happy if they didn't return with the power source very soon.

"Ready for that bridge!" Knock Out snapped into his commlink impatiently, causing one to be opened behind him and Breakdown.

Breakdown raced through the GroundBridge first with the power source. Knock Out, on the other hand, decided to stay and discretely throw Arcee an offer,

"We'll be sure to tell _the Big O_ you said hello."

It didn't take long for Arcee to catch on to what Knock Out was giving her. Something inside her told her that Knock Out was luring her into a trap. However, the part of her that was desperate to see Optimus again decided that the possibility of it being a trap didn't really matter to her.

She only had one chance.

And she was going to take it.

"ARCEE!" Bulkhead called as Arcee transformed and raced into the GroundBridge.

Knock Out found out the hard way that his discrete offer was accepted when Arcee rolled off of the back of his head before landing on the ground and speeding down the hallways.

"You know that Megatron's gonna see her and have Soundwave evict her from the ship, right?" Breakdown asked Knock Out.

It was one of those times where Knock Out wished Breakdown had a dumb moment.

"Scrap," Knock Out grumbled.

He forgot about that.

* * *

"Where's mum?" Talida demanded as Bulkhead and Bumblebee walked through the GroundBridge without Arcee, "Bulkhead, what did you do?"

"Why do you always blame me?" Bulkhead wanted to know.

"Because most of the time, it's your fault," Ratchet stated dryly.

"**We encountered Knock Out and Breakdown at the military base. They got away with the power source. But before leaving, Knock Out discretely gave Arcee a chance to sneak aboard the Nemesis and find Optimus,**" Bumblebee buzzed in explanation.

"What?!" Talida screeched, "Knock Out and Breakdown were there and you didn't ask to have me bridged over?!"

"The battle didn't last long enough, Tally," Bulkhead defended himself.

"_Arcee to base. Need a GroundBridge ASAP._"

"Mum, did you find him?" Talida asked eagerly.

"_I'm sorry, honey._"

That response alone let everyone know that Arcee's search wasn't successful. Wordlessly, Ratchet opened another GroundBridge and Arcee limped through the portal shivering. At first, they were confused as to why she was so cold. Then they glanced at the coordinates Ratchet had entered and realized that she somehow ended up in the Arctic.

As Ratchet examined her, Arcee explained everything that happened on the Nemesis. Upon her arrival and fleeing Knock Out and Breakdown, she encountered many Decepticon troops. None of them revealing Orion's location. Before she could continue searching the ship, she encountered Soundwave and she unknowingly jumped into a GroundBridge he had activated and found herself stranded in the Arctic.

After hearing the story, there were only some _minor_ details Ratchet cared about.

"You weren't able to determine the Decepticons' location or if Optimus was even aboard ship?!" Ratchet exclaimed as he stopped scanning her.

"I…couldn't confirm," Arcee reported sadly, shaking her head.

Bulkhead had been close to losing it over the past two months since Optimus left. Hearing that they came so close but still weren't successful finally snapped him. Roaring in frustration, he pounded his fist onto a nearby table. Unfortunately for Ratchet, one of his drills just happened to be under Bulkhead's fist and was destroyed.

It started the release of tensions like a domino effect.

"BULKHEAD!" Ratchet yelled.

"What?! You needed that?! Only thing I need is our head honcho back!" Bulkhead roared, pounding his fists together over his chassis to prove his point.

"It's not your fault," Jack immediately reassured Arcee, after noticing that Talida was close to exploding herself.

"If any of us needed rescuing, Optimus would have found a way! I didn't! Simple as that!" Arcee retorted.

And if the situation couldn't get worse, Fowler decided to leave a message with even worse news.

"_Ratchet! What happened out there?! Reports indicated at least a dozen wounded! The heat's on me to provide some explanation! You bots better get your act together or the Pentagon will make me shut down your base!_"

If the prospect of never regaining their leader was bad enough, the prospect of losing the only home they knew as well was worse.

"Where would you go?" Raf wanted to know, knowing that the Autobots had nowhere else to go.

"Who knows?! Maybe they'll ship us off to some island! Or fire us into space! Wouldn't that be a welcome relief?!" Ratchet scoffed, only to cringe at the glare Talida was giving him about the last remark he made.

"I don't blame Fowler! Optimus would have evacuated all humans from the area _before_ engaging the 'Cons!" Arcee pointed out.

"**Arcee's right. We should have told them to pull back,**" Bumblebee concurred.

"We don't know what Optimus would have done because he's not here!" Bulkhead snapped.

"You're pretty good at stating the obvious, Bulk," Arcee said, standing up and approaching the former Wrecker in a dangerous manner, "Anything else you'd like to mention that we already know?!"

"Nothing I can say in front of the children," Bulkhead growled.

That caused Talida to finally boil over.

"HEY!" Talida snapped, causing all eyes to be on her due to how loud she was, "There's something good that we're overlooking! Everybody's stressing about Dad being missing that no one's talking about what Knock Out and Breakdown just delivered to the 'Cons!"

"Yes. We allowed them to finally acquire a power source for their Space Bridge!" Ratchet stated dryly.

"And how exactly would that be a positive?" Arcee asked Talida, still not seeing the point.

"We let them finish their Space Bridge," Talida began, shrugging as though it was the most obvious thing in the world she was hinting towards.

"Why?!" Bulkhead wanted to know, "So they can bring more zombies from Cybertron?!"

"No. So we can commandeer it," Talida corrected before revealing what she was hinting towards,

"And use it to get Jack and I to Cybertron."

* * *

**Short. Sweet. To the point. Doesn't make that much sense. Evil cliffhanger. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how I roll.**

**Now, I'm gonna pop back over towards ****_Fading Suns_****. I'll give you guys a long chapter for that one to make up for this. By now, you should know the drill. Review. Fave. Alert. Whatever.**

**BYE!**


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